Making Cob with a Auger Mixer?

I’m fascinated by new ways of making cob. Especially ones that take some of the back-breaking labor out of the equation. Years back I visited HUG, or Hunt Utilities Group and produced a short video of the experience. Ryan Hunt gave us the tour and explained their vertical auger mixer. Which can make quick work of cob creation in mass quantities. Recently I checked in with HUG to see if there were any new innovations with mechanical cob mixing. The following is a email I received from Ryan…

The magic to it is the vertical auger. Tumble mixers make balls of it. Mortar mixers and others with blades running through the mud catch the straw on the leading edges where it builds up huge sometimes. Horizontal augers can compact the material against the side. Skidsteer or tractor mixing is inconsistent. And feet just get tired by the time you get a couple tons done.

We started with the big, blue Patz vertical Auger mixer. It’s called a TMR mixer (total mixed rations) and is usually used for cattle feed. We bought the small one made to be run by a 100hp tractor. It mixes up to 7000 lbs of cob in about 30 minutes.

Then we bought and modified a little orange mixer hopper meant for spray-able, fibrous mixes. We modified it with a vertical auger to replace the paddles and added a variable speed motor. It has been used extensively to make small batches for the cob sculpting on campus.

With those two, we decided we needed something of an in between size that could be more portable than the big one, but make enough cob to be useful on a job site. So we commissioned the construction of one about 1/4 the size of the big blue Patz. That is now powered with a small tractor.
These are all successful, but are now underutilized. We may be willing to rent some out. Last year, we made several tons of cob for a local builder.

Then we have a gravel screener to get the rocks out of the sand and the clay (somewhat). Cob with only small rocks works well for being pumped and trowel applied or spray applied on a wall. We have a nice little pump and air compressor set up that can do that job, too.

We’d love to have some help documenting “commercial” cob. It’s not the main direction we are headed at the moment, but there is a lot that we can share with people.